Darren Clarke and Michael Hoey capped a fine weekend for Irish golf by claiming a share of the runners-up berth at the African Open at the East London Golf Club today. The Ulster pair finished on 20-under, one behind eventual winner Retief Goosen.
Clarke closed the gap to one shot on the 15th and came down the stretch requiring one further birdie to force a play-off with the South African. However, he was unable to bridge the gap and three pars saw him share second place with Hoey, Brendan Grace and Darren Fitchardt.
Hoey had earlier carded a second successive round of 66 to continue his excellent start to the season.
Goosen had fired a brilliant final round of 65 to claim the title. Goosen began the day four shots behind Clarke and South African James Kingston, but Clarke could only manage a 70 and Kingston a 73 to open the door for the chasing pack.
Collated Scores(RSA unless stated, Irishin bold)
267Retief Goosen 66 70 66 65
268Branden Grace 69 68 66 65, Michael Hoey(NIrl) 68 68 66 66, Darren Fichardt 65 68 67 68, Darren Clarke(NIrl) 67 65 66 70
271James Kingston 66 67 65 73
272Mark Murless 71 68 69 64
273Richard Sterne 72 67 61 73
274Ulrich Van Den Berg 70 67 67 70, Charl Schwartzel 65 73 65 71, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 62 68 72 72
275Graham Delaet (Can) 63 74 64 74
276Steve Van Vuuren 71 66 70 69, Alex Haindl 66 67 72 71
277Brandon Pieters 71 68 70 68, Jaco Van Zyl 73 66 70 68, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 68 66 69 74
278Keith Horne 71 67 68 72, Christiaan Basson 69 70 65 74
279Louis De Jager 69 73 69 68, Tyrone Mordt 70 73 66 70, Deane Pappas 67 70 69 73, Warren Abery 67 68 70 74, Dawie Van Der Walt 68 68 69 74
280Louis Moolman 70 71 69 70, Trevor Fisher Jnr 74 69 67 70, Grant Muller 69 67 71 73
281Garth Mulroy 70 72 70 69, Martin Maritz 69 73 69 70, Paulo Pinto (Arg) 68 69 73 71
282Alan Mclean (Sco) 68 71 72 71, Stuart Clark (Wal) 71 65 73 73, David Frost 72 68 69 73
283Tyrone Van Aswegen 73 68 74 68, Shaun Norris 73 68 73 69, Wallie Coetsee 73 69 71 70, Kevin Stone 71 72 70 70, Clinton Whitelaw 71 72 68 72, Gerlou Roux 72 70 68 73, Jake Roos 70 70 68 75
284Neil Schietekat 66 74 73 71, Charl Coetzee 67 74 70 73, Darryn Lloyd 71 71 69 73, Jean Hugo 69 69 72 74, Peter Karmis 68 71 70 75
285Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 71 72 71 71, Ph Mcintyre 69 71 70 75, Michiel Bothma 69 71 70 75, Wes Heffernan 70 70 70 75, Merrick Bremner 75 64 70 76, Justin Walters (Eng) 68 72 67 78
286Bradford Vaughan 72 68 77 69, Oliver Bekker 68 74 73 71, Heinrich Bruiners 71 71 73 71, Sean Farrell (Zim) 69 71 74 72, Thomas Aiken 73 70 70 73, Ryan Thompson 72 68 72 74, Lindani Ndwandwe 68 72 72 74, Andrew Curlewis 71 71 68 76, Willie Van Der Merwe 68 68 71 79, Steve Lewton (Eng) 69 68 67 82
287Gerhard Trytsman 68 70 76 73, Andrae Bossert (Swi) 70 69 74 74, Tyrone Ferreira 69 71 71 76
288Peter Kaensche (Nor) 71 71 77 69, Theunis Spangenberg 69 71 73 75
289Desvonde Botes 72 71 70 76, Nic Henning 70 69 69 81
294Dion Fourie 71 72 74 77
295Federico Cabrera (Arg) 72 70 78 75
297Francois Van Vuuren 75 68 75 79
